1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a tape cartridge installed on the cartridge installation portion of a tape printing apparatus to be used and subjected to printing by the tape printing apparatus.
2. Background Art
Up until now, a tape cassette installed on the cassette installation portion of a printing apparatus in its positioned state has been known as such a tape cartridge. See JP-A-2012-152951.
The tape cassette includes an adhesive tape spool on which a double-sided adhesive tape is wound, a film tape spool on which a film tape (printing tape) is wound, and a ribbon spool on which an ink ribbon is wound. In addition, the tape cassette includes a ribbon winding-up spool that winds up the ink ribbon, a tape driving roller, and a cassette casing that accommodates these constituents. Moreover, pin holes are provided at two places of both end margins in the longitudinal direction of the cassette casing.
On the other hand, the printing apparatus includes a main body cover in which the cassette installation portion is recessed and a cover that opens/closes the cassette installation portion. The cassette installation portion is provided with a head holder on which a tape driving shaft, a ribbon winding-up shaft, and a printing head are mounted, and is further provided with two positioning pins with which the pin holes described above engage. In addition, a cassette pressing mechanism that presses the tape cassette installed on the cassette installation portion is provided inside the cover.
The cassette pressing mechanism includes a pressing plate rotatably attached to the cover, two coil-shaped elastic bodies interposed between the pressing plate and the cover, and three pressing members that project from the pressing plate and press the tape cassette.
The tape cassette is installed on the cassette installation portion so as to make the pin holes engage with the positioning pins of the cassette installation portion. When the cover is closed in this state, the three pressing members of the cassette pressing mechanism press the tape cassette with the elastic forces of the elastic bodies. Thus, the tape cassette is positioned at the cassette installation portion and subjected to printing by a printing head.
Meanwhile, in consideration of errors in manufacturing the tape cassette (a cassette casing), the positioning pins of the cassette installation portion and the pin holes of the tape cassette are in engagement with each other so as to make allowance for dimensional tolerances. Therefore, if a pressing force to the tape cassette in the installation direction becomes weak, a positional deviation or floating is likely to occur in the tape cassette.
In the known printing apparatus described above, the tape cassette is pressed (positioned) by the coil-shaped elastic bodies (coil springs) provided on the cover. However, the elastic bodies have a problem in that the pressing forces (spring forces) are weakened with time. That is, reduction in the pressing forces is caused due to the occurrence of so-called “loss of springiness.” In particular, a plurality of types of tape cassettes having a different thickness is available as the tape cassette, and the shrinkage of the elastic bodies is different among the tape cassettes. Therefore, there is a case that the pressing forces become insufficient due to the “loss of springiness” of the elastic bodies depending on the thicknesses of the tape cassettes. In addition, the three pressing members of the cassette pressing mechanism largely project inside the cover. Therefore, a hindrance to the attachment/detachment of the tape cassette is caused by the pressing members.
The present invention has an object of providing a tape cartridge that allows pressing for positioning to be appropriately and stably performed regardless of the structure of an apparatus or the size of the thickness of a cartridge casing.